Windsor Police Review Arrest Of High School Student

Windsor student injured during arrest for refusing to leave high school grounds

WINDSOR — The police department is reviewing an incident in which a high school student suffered a minor injury Monday after being arrested for refusing to leave school grounds.

Capt. Tom LePore said Wednesday that the incident occurred after school when a group of four boys were milling around in the lobby.

Students who are not involved in after-school activities are required to leave school grounds, LePore said, and school security personnel tried several times to get them to leave before enlisting the aid of the police department's school resource officer, Tony Valenti.

Valenti told the students that they needed to leave, but they didn't comply, LePore said.

At that point, LePore said the officer told the students, whose names he didn't release because they are minors, that they would be arrested if they didn't leave. LePore said three of the students then left, but the last one became belligerent and stopped.

"The officer warned him again and then took him to the ground," LePore said.

During the arrest, LePore said, the student's head hit the floor and he sustained a minor injury above his left eye. He was taken to the public safety complex to be processed and then to Connecticut Children's Medical Center to be treated.

The student was charged as a juvenile with trespassing, breach of peace and interfering with a police officer, LePore said. He is scheduled to appear in juvenile court in Hartford on June 17.

LePore said the department reviews all use-of-force incidents to determine if the amount and outcome were appropriate and added that "it appears at this point that the officer was acting within department guidelines."

"There's nothing that would point to inappropriate behavior," he said.

Windsor High School Principal Russell Sills said Wednesday that he couldn't comment on whether the student was or was not going to receive discipline from the school as a result of his arrest.

"Oftentimes they are linked, but not always," he said. "It's not an automatic."